East Coast Hip-Hop

Sure, it's presumptuous to say that one scene invented a sound. Let's just say that hip-hop certainly has thrived over on the East Coast. In New York City alone, the genre has splintered into enough significant sub-genres to complete a CD collection. To hear what we mean, tuck into a buffet sampling of old-school and new-school sounds.

So, now you know the difference between the breaks of Kurtis Blow and the "you must learn" teachings of KRS-One. Keep listening: you're about to learn the place of pop (Onyx), peace signs (A Tribe Called Quest), incense (Lauryn Hill), glitz (Bad Boy Records), and operatic ultra-violence (Kool G. Rap) in the East Coast canon.

Rakim and Raekwon are just two of the East Coast's acclaimed but under-appreciated street poets. Dig a little deeper, and you'll dust off the choice beats of Alchemist and Large Professor, as well as KMD — the birthplace of poker-hot indie MC MF Doom. Can't forget the nonstop house party of Kid 'N Play either.

Were he alive today, Frank Sinatra might lapse into cardiac arrest upon exploring the distorted rap borough of his beloved New York, New York. There's simply too much to appreciate in one sitting. Our playlist is at least a start: the history of hip-hop as told from the streets up, including the shell-suit era of Run-DMC, militant sloganeering of Public Enemy, chopstick pastiches of Wu-Tang Clan, and button-pushing rivalries of Nas and Jay-Z.